Order of the Phoenix read the books - Philosopher's Stone
by stevebond1990
Summary: The Order of the Phoenix read the books in the room of requirement with 2 guests.
1. Chapter 1

Order of the Phoenix reads the books

Remus Lupin was walking down the corridor from the Grand Staircase to the far side of the seventh floor of Hogwarts castle's main keep, it was late December and all the students had been sent home. Professor Albus Dumbledore, the schools headmaster, had called a meeting for the Order of the Phoenix and it was being held in a unique room on the seventh floor. This _'Room of Requirement'_ was supposed to be the most secure location available, which seemed pointless as Hogwarts was one of the only safe places left, where no one would be able to spy on the meeting.

He stopped across from the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy and paced back and forth three times in front of the blank wall. On the third turn, a large and ornate door appeared. He opened the door and cringed back as a wave of noise assaulted his sensitive hearing. After waiting for a minute for his hearing to adjust, he entered the room.

Most of the order, and a small number of guests, were sitting at a long table in the centre of the room: Albus Dumbledore sat at the head of the table; to his left was an empty seat, James Potter, Lily Potter, Alice Longbottom, Helen Bones, Mark Bones, Emmaline Vance and Marlene McKinnon.

Opposite the empty seat sat Minerva McGonagall, then Alastor Moody, Sirius Black, Frank Longbottom, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, Edgar Bones, Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Doge and Aberforth Dumbledore.

Opposite the headmaster, due to his size, was Rubeus Hagrid.

Remus closed the door and walked over to take the empty seat beside James, who turned to his friend, looking excited.  
"Hey Remus, your just in time for the good news," James said  
"Good news?" Remus asked, looking between Sirius, who was grinning madly, James and Lily who, like Alice and Helen, looked both happy and nervous.  
"I'm pregnant, so are Alice and Helen," Lily said, smiling.  
"Congratulations, all of you," Remus said, smiling back at his friends. "How are Frank and Mark?"  
"They are both over the moon," Sirius said, both men nodding in agreement.  
"The healers estimate the babies will be due in June or July," Helen said, smiling at her husband Mark.

As Remus was about to speak again, Dumbledore rose and sent several fireworks from the tip of his wand.

"I would like to call this meeting to order," Albus said, projecting his voice over the assembled members. "Now, I take it everyone is here?"  
"Barring those on assignment?" Moody asked, rhetorically. "Pettigrew is missing."  
"I spoke to him before I came," Remus said. "He told me he was visiting his mother, apparently she has caught something nasty."

"Very well," Dumbledore said, his eyes moving from one order member to the next. "I'd like to begin with…"

He was interrupted by a pair flashes and a series of distinct thumps, followed by the sound of a high powered ward being erected.

The order jumped from their seats, wands drawn, to find two teenagers trapped by a stasis ward and a small pile of books next to them. A letter had also fallen onto the table in front of Dumbledore.

Dumbledore cast several charms to detect any harmful or dark magic, only to find it was a simple letter. He picked up the letter and opened it. His expression changed twice as he read before he finally read it aloud to the order:

_Dear Order of the Phoenix_

_The war has been won and Voldemort defeated, however, too many lives have been lost and even as I write this continue to be lost.  
Therefore, I and my compatriots have decided to send these books to you along with two of our number in order to change the outcome of your war and, hopefully, prevent our war from breaking out._

_These texts document the final day of your war and the road to the beginning of our war as experienced by one of the two that has been sent back.  
There are five texts which represent the five years of education and adventures this person experienced before the nation was set on the road to war._

_Some of the information within these texts was already available to you or obtainable through unorthodox channels; the rest is felt to have been needed earlier but was either unavailable or withheld for some reason._

_There are some rules and requests that come with the opportunity to gain and utilise this knowledge:  
First, Peter Pettigrew is NOT to be allowed into the readings, the reason will become clear in the third book but his motivations elude us to this day, do not harm him until you discover his motivation.  
Second, the books are enchanted to be read in order; you cannot read a book until all previous books have been read in the correct order.  
Third, it is requested that the Weasley family attends, it is not essential but some members have an important role to play.  
Fourth, this is only a suggestion but it might be wise to have someone take notes of important or unusual events and facts, perhaps several in order to have different perspectives.  
Fifth, try to keep an open mind, not everything will be as it seems early in the series.  
Sixth, others may be sent back later in the reading._

_The two sent bear a great importance to the story, but also have family in your Order that they never had the chance to meet them._

_Finally, we are aware that altering history is illegal and a drastic measure, but we felt it was worth the risk, the choice is up to you however.  
When the reading is done, you will be allowed to choose whether to use this knowledge or to let history run its course, in which case, the books and our friends will be removed and your memories modified._

_We wish you luck_

_The H.M_

Everyone stared at Dumbledore, "I think it would be best to bring the Weasley family here before we begin, Fabian, would you be so kind?"

Fabian Prewett nodded and left to fetch his sister's family, as he left, Albus gave the letter to James who read it and passed it on.

After several minutes, an odd noise filled the air and Albus strode to the trapped teens, placing himself between them and the mothers to be.

Harry felt the floor beneath his back, his mind registering the ward field pinning his body collapsing, feeling returned to his limbs and pain from the small catalogue of wounds.

The last thing he remembered was trading spell fire on the Anchorage line with Yaxley, Dolohov and Avery while, behind him, Susan was fighting O'Rourke and Macnair, next there was a flash, a feeling of weightlessness and then a hitting a wooden floor with Susan next to him and the ward going up.

The ward had kept him from moving, he was barely aware of anything (he briefly wondered if this was what it was like for Hermione when she was petrified), then the ward began to fall; he could see and feel movement outside of the ward line and could move his eyes and see who was there. He couldn't believe his eyes.

There were several people from the original Order standing there, watching like hawks, including Susan and Neville's parents. There was also Ron's uncle Gideon, Marlene McKinnon, and even Mad-Eye Moody, without his glass eye or wooden leg. He came to one conclusion, they'd been sent back in time.

They'd put the plan into action? The battle wasn't over yet, the Death Eaters hadn't breached Anchorage line and the was still Curtain and Bastion lines intact, Tom Riddle was dead before the Battle began.

Why had they been sent back?

As he watched Dumbledore step forwards and Frank and Mark stand between him and their wives, a little voice in the back of his head said _"Too many were already dead; the British Wizarding World was already irreparably damaged. This is the only way to prevent it, to go back and win this war."_

He began to move as the ward reached the critical point, he rolled over and began to rise into a crouch and drawing his own wand. He put himself between the Order and Susan.

Harry rose into a defensive posture as the ward finally collapsed, deciding to focus purely on Dumbledore for now.

"Who are you? Where are we?" Harry demanded, pretending to be ignorant. He heard Susan rising behind him.

Albus noted the body language and deduced these two had been taken from or directly after a battle, he decided to appease them and try and prevent any further conflict.

"My name is Albus Dumbledore, and you are currently in Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizadry," He said calmly.  
"Bull! Albus Dumbledore has been dead and buried for over a year, I was one of the pall bearers," the unidentified male snarled aggressively, seemingly not noticing the gasps of horror from several people.  
"I assure you, my boy, I am alive and well," Albus continued calmly.  
"Alright, _IF_ you're Albus… What caused the three way fight between you, your brother Aberforth and Gellert Grindelwald in 1899 and who was killed," Harry said, surprising and horrifying both Dumbledores.  
Albus simply stared for several seconds, his mind thinking furiously of how this boy could have found this out; he didn't know Aberforth was thinking the same thing. He concluded that one of them must have told him.  
"My mother's death and the need to care for our sister and mine and Gellert's plans for the future were the cause for the fight," He sighed heavily, hesitating. "It was our sister, Ariana, who was killed." He said, finally.

The boy nodded, accepting his answer before glancing at Aberforth, knowing he would need to explain how he knew.  
"If you're alive, that means we've gone back in time, so what's the date and year?" He asked, lowering but not sheathing his wand, the girl copying his action.  
"December 27th, 1979," James Potter said, stepping forward to stand next to Dumbledore.

Harrys eyes snapped to James, widening in disbelief; "1979?" he asked quietly. James nodded yes. Harry opened his mouth to speak, but no words came, his vision went black and he heard Susan shout his name as he hit the floor.

"Harry?" Harry heard faintly, his hearing coming back slowly. "Harry?" this time he heard it clearer, it was Susan. He groaned, his backing aching from both the fall and earlier battle. He grunted as someone pulled him into a tight hug, opening his eyes, he found himself looking into a mass of deep red hair, Susan's hair.

"I'm alright, Suze," Harry said softly into her hair.  
"Don't scare me like that," Susan said her voice slightly hoarse. "I thought some spell you were hit by had killed you." She pulled herself off him and looked him directly in his eyes, her sapphire blue eyes red from crying.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," He said quickly, he really hadn't wanted to scare his girlfriend. "It's just…"  
"I know, it was a shock for me too," She said, moving over to help him up. As he rose, he noticed that most of the Order was watching them.

"I guess introductions are in order," Harry said, turning to look at Susan. My name is Harry James Potter," Harry said.  
"And my name is Susan Amelia Bones," Susan said, smiling at Harry.

Lily and Helen's hands went to their stomachs as their husbands stared in disbelief.

Albus turned to the couples, "They are telling the truth," He said.

The two couples looked from him to the two teens, finally taking in their appearance:

Harry was a few inches shorter than James, with the same lean figure, wild coal black hair but emerald green eyes and slightly softer nose and cheeks.

Susan was slightly shorter than Harry, with her mother's long wavy red hair, voluptuous body and sapphire blue eyes.

Mark opened his mouth twice before speaking, "Bones? You're our…"  
"I'm your daughter," Susan said smiling, tears of happiness falling down her face.  
Harry nudged her gently, "Go on," he said softly, she nodded and walked over to her parents

Harry watched Susan for a moment before turning to his own parents and walking over.

As he walked over, he noticed that both of them were looking at him in disbelief.

"You're our son?" asked Lily.  
"Who else's son could I be? You're the only women that can stand him." Harry said, causing both his parents to chuckle. "Besides, he wouldn't want to be with anyone else." He added in a softer tone, causing Sirius and Remus, who were standing next to them, to nod seriously.

Lily pulled Harry into a hug, which he returned. James hugged both of them as several people smiled and Remus had to keep Sirius from joking.

Harry looked at the other marauders present as the hug broke up, "Why don't you introduce these two?"

"This is Sirius Black, my brother in all but blood and the man we, I mean, I was considering to be your godfather," James said, changing his words sharply at a look from his wife.  
"Dogfather," Harry said in a reverent tone, bowing before the handsome black haired man.  
Sirius seemed confused until he remembered the muggle film Lily and Remus had made him watch, he let out his bark like laugh as he got the joke.  
"Pleasure to meet you Harry, you look just like your old man," Sirius laughed, prompting an indignant noise from James at the old comment. "Did they make me your godfather?"  
"Why would I make the joke if you weren't?" Harry replied, causing Sirius to stop and think before nodding.

"And this is Remus Lupin," James continued, gesturing to the tallest man, barring Hagrid, present, he had brown hair, brown eyes, slightly pale skin and faint scars.  
"Hey Remus, I do know about your furry-little-problem in case you're wondering and I don't give a damn." Harry said, causing Remus to smile gratefully.  
"It's nice to meet you Harry and thank for your honesty," Remus replied.  
Harry smiled as he shook Remus' hand but the smile fell, "You have the same number of grey hairs as your counterpart in my time, was sharing a dorm with those two that bad?" he asked.  
Remus and Lily burst out laughing as Sirius and James said "Hey!"

Before the conversation could continue, Albus called everyone back to the table, announcing the arrival of the Weasley family.

Introductions were made and everyone returned to the table to begin reading with Harry and Susan sitting between Lily and Helen with Arthur and Molly Weasley directly opposite, Bill was sitting next to Susan and Charlie next to his mother.

"Several books were sent back with our guests and the Weasley's were requested to attend the reading. Now, as we are all here I shall begin." Albus said.

Reaching for the pile of books and picked up the first book.

"The first book is Harry Potter and…"

"Can you say it without the Harry Potter bit?" Harry said, wincing at his name and drawing curious looks from most people. 'James Potter's son doesn't like being in the spotlight?'

"Very well", Albus said. "The first book is called the Philosopher's Stone. Chapter one – **The Boy Who Lived**."


	2. Chapter 2-The Boy Who Lived

Order reads the books

1. The Boy Who Lived

"**The Philosopher's Stone, chapter one-The Boy Who Lived"** Albus Read.

"Who's that?" several people asked

**Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number for Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

"What's life without a bit of spice and variety?" Fabian asked

"Boring, that's what," Gideon replied

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"Of course" Harry said, sarcastically.

**Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

"What's a drill?" Arthur asked, excitedly. Several of his friends shook their heads fondly.

"Muggle construction tool." Sirius replied and everyone stared at him. "What, I took muggle studies"

"And paid attention?" Harry asked incredulously. "Who are you and what have you done with Sirius Black?"

Sirius' reply was lost amongst the laughter around the table

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, tough he did have a large moustache. Mrs Dursley was thin and brown haired and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours.**

"That's my sister Petunia and her husband Vernon,"

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

Harry and Susan burst out laughing, to the confusion of everyone else.

"Dudley" Harry said as he started to calm down. "Is not small."

**Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

"What's wrong with the Potters!" shouted James, Sirius and Remus.

"They have a low opinion of anyone in the magical world," Harry said, trying not to upset Lily, who smiled at him in appreciation.

**Mrs Potter was Mrs Dursley's sister, but they hadn't spoken in several years;**

Lily lowered her head, attempting to hide just how sad this made her, James noticed and squeezed her hand

**In fact, Mrs Dursely pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for –nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.**

"My father is not good-for-nothing." Harry said angrily.

"Yeah, James is one of the best men we know," Sirius added

"Not a word," Remus muttered

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street.**

"Don't know, don't care" Harry said simply.

"How did a scrawny git like him get lucky with a gorgeous woman like that? probably" Sirius said cheekily.

"HEY!"

**The Dursleys knew the Potters had a small son too,**.

**This boy was another good reason to keep the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"A child like what?" Lily asked, hotly.

**When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday morning our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work.**

"Fabian, do you think my tie is boring enough?" Gideon asked seriously, holding out an imaginary tie.

"No no, my dear fellow, take this one, it's much more boring," Harry said, just as seriously, holding out a quickly conjured Slytherin tie.

"Why Harry, I do believe you are right," Gideon said, catching on, as he took the tie from Harry.

Everyone laughed at their antics.

**While Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

"Brat" chorused several voices.

**None of them noticed a large tawny owl flutter past the window.**

**At half past eight, Mr Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs Dursley on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr Dursley as he left the house.**

"Little brat more like" muttered Sirius, causing most to nod in agreement.

**He got into his car and backed out of number 4's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the road that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map.**

"An Animagus?" asked Alice, surprised.

"Probably McGonagall" replied Marlene

"Alright, who thinks its Minnie, bet is 10 sickles, who's for and against?" Harry asked, conjuring a notebook and pen, missing the look on Minerva's face at the use of the marauders nickname.

Sirius, James, Fabian and Marlene bet it was McGonagall.

Gideon, Dedalus, Frank and Emmaline bet it wasn't McGonagall.

Dumbledore shook his head, smiling gently before continuing.

**For a second, Mr Dursley didn't realise what he'd seen – then he jerked head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight.**

**What could he have been thinking? It must have been a trick of the light.**

"Actually it's magic" said Sirius.

"We know Sirius" laughed Marlene

**Mr Dursley blinked and stared at the cat, it stared back.**

**As Mr Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign - no looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.**

**Mr Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove towards town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

"What's odd about cloaks" asked Marlene

"Muggles haven't worn cloaks for over a century," replied Lily

**Mr Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes – the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion.**

**He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr Dursley was enraged to see a couple of them weren't young at all; why that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt – these people were obviously collecting for something… yes, that would be it.**

"Muggles go to great lengths to explain our existence" said Arthur.

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr Dursley arrived in the Grunnings car park, his mind back on drills.**

"He's either really dedicated to his job or has a one track mind" Remus said in wonderment

"One track mind" Harry and Susan replied together.

**Mr Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning.**

**He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people in the road below did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them hadn't seen an owl before, not even at night.**

"What's strange about owls in daylight?" Edgar asked.

"Muggles don't use owls for post, so their nocturnal in the muggle world and rarely seen in urban areas," Lily replied

**Mr Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people, made several important telephone calls and shouted some more.**

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk**

"Wait? What?" Harry said, looking extremely confused. "can you repeat that line?"

Albus repeated the sentence.

"The world is ending!" Harry shouted, causing the pranksters to laugh and everyone else to look at him oddly.

**Across the road to the bakery, to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

"The world is right again," Harry said, very relieved, again making the pranksters laugh but this time most of the others seemed to get the joke.

**He'd forgotten about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's.**

**He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but the made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

"**The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard –"**

"– **Yes, their son, Harry –"**

Everyone looked at Harry and his parents. "You'll find out shortly," he said in a gloomy voice.

Dumbledore continued reading as it became clear that wasn't going to elaborate.

**Mr Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if to say something, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, ordered his secretary not to disturb him, seized the phone and had almost finished dialling his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking…**

"He can think?" Susan said, genuinely surprised, she had had the misfortune to meet the man before her and Harry's fourth year.

Her parents looked at her oddly as Albus continued.

**No, he was being stupid.**

"He admits it?" asked Sirius

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter with a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry.**

"He didn't even know his own nephew's name?" asked James, he frowned as Harry shook his head.

**He'd never even seen the boy. His name may even have been Harvey or Harold.**

**There was no point in worrying Mrs Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister.**

Lily looked like she was going to burst into tears on hearing this.

**He didn't blame her – if he'd had a sister like that…**

**But all the same, those people in cloaks…**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

"**Sorry" he grunted as the tiny old man stumbled and nearly fell.**

"He knows that word?" Harry asked, drawing curious stares from everyone that hadn't met the man

**It was a few seconds before Mr Dursley realised that the man was wearing a violet cloak. The old man didn't seem upset at almost being knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passers-by stare, "Don't be sorry, my good fellow, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even muggles like yourself should be celebrating this happy, happy day!"**

There was a stunned silence for several seconds until most of the Order started cheering, only Dumbledore noticing Harry and Susan weren't cheering.

"I take it a heavy price was paid," Dumbledore said, loudly and clearly, ending the celebrations.

Both Harry and Susan had tears in their eyes and only nodded, not trusting their voices.

Most of the Order looked like they wanted to know who died, but judging from the unshed tears and the way they looked at their parents it wasn't hard to guess.

Dumbledore gave Harry one last look, the twinkle in his eyes gone, then he returned to the book.

**And the old man hugged Mr Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

**Mr Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He had been called a muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never done before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"How can anyone not approve of imagination?" Sirius asked, incredulously.

**As he pulled into driveway of number 4, the first thing he saw – and it didn't improve his mood – was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on the garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"**Shoo" said Mr Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

**Was this normal cat behaviour? Mr Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs Dursley had had a nice normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs Next Doors problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learnt a new word, 'Won't', **(she's going to regret that)**. Mr Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room to catch the last report on the evening news:  
"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nations owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been Hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in all directions since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have changed their sleeping patterns." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

"**Well Ted" said the weatherman.**

"Hey, isn't that Ted Tonks?" Harry asked

"I think it is, but I'll have to ask Andi though?" Sirius replied.

"**I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire night early – it's not until next week! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

**Mr Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Those people in cloaks? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…**

"Merlin! He's putting it together" exclaimed Edgar.

He was already magic aware though," Mark said

**Mrs Dursley came into the living room with two cups of tea. It was no good. He would have to say something to her. "Er – Petunia,dear – you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he expected, Mrs Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

Lily sighed and lowered her head, trying to hide her tears behind her hair. James pulled her into a hug.

"**No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"**Funny things on the news," Mr Dursley mumbled. "Owls… shooting stars… and there a lot of funny looking people in town today…"**

"**So?" snapped Mrs Dursley.**

"**Well, I just thought… maybe… it was something to do with… you know… her crowd"**

"What does she mean by 'her crowd'?" asked Frank, hotly.

"Witches and Wizards" said Harry. "Those two think magic's unnatural."

**Mrs Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name 'Potter'. He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "their son – he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

"**I suppose so", said Mrs Dursley stiffly.**

"**What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

"**Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me"**

"I like it," Susan said, smiling at her boyfriend

"**Oh yes," said Mr Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree." He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there, it was staring down the road as if waiting for something. Was he imagining things?**

**Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did… if it got out that they were related to a pair of – well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursleys got into bed.**

Sirius, James and the twins yelled in mock horror and covered their eyes. Most people laughed until they saw Harry and Susan's faces.  
"Please keep you minds out of the gutter, I had to try and sleep through that a few times and I _DON'T_ want to remember it," Harry said, looking very green, Susan nodded in agreement. Harry had told her a lot more about his childhood than anyone else and had met his 'relatives', she did not want such thoughts haunting her nightmares.

**Mrs Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind… He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything going on – he yawned and turned over – it couldn't affect them…**

**How very wrong he was.**

**Mr Dursley may have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat outside on the wall was showing no signs of sleepiness.**

"Does McGonagall ever? I swear that she spends most nights prowling the halls trying to catch you out after curfew." Susan said, smiling at Harry who was now receiving glares from his mother, Minerva and Mrs Weasley while the marauders and twins looked proud.

**It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed in the next road, or when two owls swooped low overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all. A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appearing so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he had just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

"That was a quiet apparition," Harry stated, he'd been practicing apparition since he found the one book in the library that hadn't been removed in his third year and couldn't reduce the crack when apparating.

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, both of which were long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearinglong robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.**

**This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"Who else?" Remus said fondly, as several people cheered.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realise that he had just in a road where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.**

"I probably knew, just didn't care" chuckled Albus.

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak for something. But he did seem to realise he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the road. For some reason the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered "I should have known."**

**He found what he had been looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it in the air, and clicked it. The nearest lamppost went out with a little pop. He clicked it again – the next light flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer,**

"That's its name?" Remus asked.

"Deluminator, actually" Harry answered him. "I borrowed it once for a prank" he said in answer to everyone's curious stares, causing Lily and Molly to frown ans Sirius and James to grin.

**Until the only lights left on the whole road were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the road toward number 4, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a he moment spoke to it.  
"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

There were several unhappy betters as Harry sorted out the winnings.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead, he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald green one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

"**How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

"**My dear Professor, I have never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

"**You would be stiff too if you been sitting on a brick wall all day." Said Professor McGonagall.**

"**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

"**Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no – even the muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursley's dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent – I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

****"Hey!" Dedalus said indignantly.

"I always thought you were good for a laugh," Harry replied, making several of the Order nod in agreement.

"**You can't blame them," Dumbledore said gently, "we've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"That'll be roughly October after next," Dedalus said, not noticing how uncomfortable Harry and Susan now looked.

"**I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though she was hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the muggles found out about us. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore, "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop."**

"A what?" asked Frank.

"**A what?"**

"Hey Frank thinks like Minnie" said Fabian, amused.

"**A lemon drop, they're a kind of muggle sweet I'm rather fond of"**

"**No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone – "**

"**My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this You-Know-Who nonsense – for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name-**_**Voldemort.**_**"**

Most of the room flinched.

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, didn't seem to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

Again, most people in the room flinched at the name. Dumbledore frowned at those who had flinched; noting the visitors and the marauders hadn't flinched, and said "fear of a name will only increase your fear of the thing itself."

"**I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows that you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was afraid of."  
"You flatter me," Dumbledore said calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."  
"Only because you're too – well – noble to use them."  
"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed this much since Madame Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing compared to the **_**rumors**_** flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

Most people in the room leaned forwards in their seats, intrigued. Harry, however, had leaned forward and put his head in his hands, Susan pulled him into a hug.

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been sitting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever 'everyone' was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

"**What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are- are- that they're dead."**

The room fell silent at this; Lily broke down in tears, James pulled her into a hug mumbling "Please… no, please... god, no…"

Sirius and Remus looked like they'd been shot. James , their brother in all but blood, was going to be dead in less than a year.

Most of the men looked grave and the women were crying. Harry was crying into Susan's shoulder.

"We'll stop this guys, we can change this," Sirius said determined.

**Dumbledore bowed his head, Professor McGonagall gasped.  
"Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… oh, Albus…"**

"I didn't know you cared, Professor" James said. McGonagall gave him a weak smile.

"Of course I cared James, if I didn't you would have been expelled, never mind the fact I'm your godmother." Minerva said.

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill their son, Harry.**

"NO!" shouted Lily and James.

**But – he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No-one knows why or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry, Voldemort's power somehow broke – and that's why he's gone."**

"Harry killed Voldemort?" Gideon said, amazed.

"Not yet," Susan said sadly.

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

"**It's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how on the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

"**We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

"You have a hunch but don't want to tell anyone," Susan said, as Harry lifted his head off her shoulder.

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes behind her glasses.  
Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no number. Instead, little planets were moving around the edge.**

****"Ok, someone has got to explain that to me," Harry said.

**It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, as he put it back into his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

"**Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me **_**why**_** you're here, of all places."  
"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"No!" cried Lily, panicking. "They hate magic."

"**You don't mean – you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number 4. "Dumbledore – you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son – I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the road, screaming for sweets.**

"Brat" everyone muttered.

**Harry Potter come and live here!"**

"Thank you for trying Professor." Harry said sadly, Professor McGonagall gave him a sad smile.

"**It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he is older. I've written them a letter."**

"A LETTER?" Screamed Lily, everyone winced at the sound of her voice. "You think that a letter is enough to explain this?" Dumbledore flinched.

"**A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous – a legend – I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future – there will be books written about Harry – every child in our world will know his name!"**

"**Exactly, Dumbledore said, looking at her very seriously **("Don't" Remus said to Sirius, who had been about to speak)** over the top of his half-moon spectacles. "It would turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed and then said, "Yes – yes, you're right. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak as if she thought he might be hiding Harry under it.**

"**Hadrid is bringing him."**

"**You think it – wise – to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"Hagrid is my oldest and dearest friend, I trust him with my life" Harry said, making the half-giant present smile.

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

"**I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," Professor McGonagall grudgingly admitted, "but you can't pretend that he isn't careless. He does tend to – what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky – and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"Cool!" Sirius shouted.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild – long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of dustbin lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last and where did you get that motorcycle?"**

"**Borrowed it, professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me."**

"Yes!"

"**I've got him, sir."**

"**No problems, were there?"**

"**No, sir – house was almost destroyed, but I got him out before the muggles started swarming around. He fell asleep just as we were flying over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall lent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep.**

The women in the room cooed at that. Harry blushed.

**Under a tuft of black hair over his forehead they could just see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

Harry flattened his hair automatically at the stares.

"**Is that where - ?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

"**Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

"**Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well – give him here, Hagrid – we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned towards the Dursley's house.**

"**Could I – could I say goodbye to him, sir?" asked Hagid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss.**

**Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

"Hey! I take offence to that." Shouted Sirius and Harry.

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the muggles!"**

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it – Lily and James dead – and poor little Harry off ter live with muggles."**

"**Yes, yes, it all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found,"**

"That was very insensitive, Professor." Harry said angrily, several people glaring at her as well.

Professor McGonagall looked very ashamed of herself.

**Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked the letter inside Harry's blankets, he then came back to the other two.**

"You left him on a doorstep, in November, on a night when rain was forecast?" said Lily in a dangerously calm voice.

"As described, I didn't leave from unprotected from either the elements or unsavoury individuals." Dumbledore replied, trying to calm the young witch.

"That doesn't change the fact you abandoned a child on a doorstep in early winter," Arthur retorted angrily, many of the other Order nodded angrily in agreement, all looking ready to hex the man.

Dumbledore started reading again, trying to get their attention off him.

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well join the celebrations."**

"**Yeah, said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike back to Sirius. G'night Professor McGonagall – Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his coat sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

"**I shall see you soon I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the road. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once and twelve balls of light sped back to the lampposts so that Privet Drive suddenly glowed orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the road. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number 4.**

"**Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heal and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

****"I certainly needed it," Harry muttered.

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing that he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs Dursley's scream as she put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley… he couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices; "To Harry Potter – The Boy-Who-Lived!"**

"That is the end of the chapter, who would like to read next?" asked Albus.

"I will, Albus," said Harry. Albus handed the book to him.

"Chapter-2, **The Vanishing glass**" he began.


	3. Chapter 3-The Vanishing Glass

The Vanishing Glass

"**The Vanishing Glass" **said Harry.

"Was this accidental Magic?" Arthur asked.

"Of course, come on, I want to hear what Prongslet does," Sirius replied excitedly, ignoring Lily's glare

Harry sighed before he continued.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had awoken to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose over the same tidy front gardens,**

"But Petunia hates gardening?" Lily said, looking at Harry, who refused to meet her gaze.

**And lit up the brass number 4 on the Dursley's front door; it crept into the living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night Mr Dursley had seen the fateful news report about the owls.**

"Our house changes all the time," Bill said, confused.

**Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed the passage of time. Ten years ago, there had been a large number of photos of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different coloured bonnets, but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby**

The room erupted in laughter.

**And now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at a fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign that another boy lived in this house.**

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His aunt Petunia was awake and it was her voice that made the first noise of the day.**

Lily winced, she remembered that voice all too well, It wasn't something anyone wanted to wake up to.

"**Up! Get up! Now"**

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

"**Up!"**

**Harry heard her walk into the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove.**

**He rolled onto his back, he tried to remember the dream he'd been having. It had been a good one, there had been a flying motorcycle in it.**

Everyone looked at Harry, surprised by his ability to remember.

**He had a funny feeling had the same dream before. His aunt was back outside the door. "Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

"**Nearly," Harry said.**

"**Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on my Duddy's birthday."**

"They made you cook?" asked Helen.  
Harry's nod made several people mutter darkly.

**Harry groaned.**

"**What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

"He didn't say anything," Charlie said.

"**Nothing, nothing…"**

**Dudley's birthday – how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for some socks. He found a pair under the bed and, after pulling a spider off them, put them on.**

Fabian shuddered as the word spider was read out.

**Harry was used to spiders,**

Fabian shuddered again

**Because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them,**

Harry stopped reading, he sighed. He should have realised this would come up.

**And that was where he slept.**

There was a terrible, deafening silence, which quickly gave way to complete uproar.

The men jumped up shouting, Harry and Susan quickly placed silencing charms on the children so they wouldn't hear the swearing.

Most of the women were in shock for several seconds before turning to shout at Dumbledore.

Albus was at this point shielding himself from numerous hexes while trying desperately to explain himself; well, to explain he _couldn't_ explain the actions of his future self.

After a few minutes a loud bang interrupted everyone, Harry was standing up, his wand raised to the ceiling.

"I know you're angry, but the mad old fool had his reasons. If we continue, we can find out how to prevent this from happening in the first place" Harry said, firmly.

There was a lot of angry grumbling as everyone returned to their seats. As Harry and Susan removed the silencing charms, they noticed Lily and the marauders sat around a piece of Parchment, apparently plotting revenge.

When everyone finally settled down, Harry began to read again.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall to the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath Dudley's birthday presents.**

**It looked like Dudley had got the new computer he wanted; not to mention the second television and the racing bike.**

Arthur was scribbling away on a piece of parchment as each object was read out.

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, Dudley was very fat and hated exercise – unless it involved punching someone.**

"That better not mean you," someone growled.

**Dudley's favourite punching bag was Harry,  
**There were several growls across the room again.

**But he couldn't often catch him, Harry didn't look it but he could run very fast for his age,**

**But that just meant Dudley hit him harder when he did catch Harry.**

More growls were heard this time.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.**

"No, this idiot was a scrawny midget too," Sirius laughed.

"Oi"

"And the men all fall for redheads," the twins teased, making both Potter couples blush.

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear was Dudley's old clothes, and Dudley was a couple of times bigger than him.**

"They wouldn't even buy him clothes?" Emmaline asked, angrily.

**Harry had a thin face,**

"James" several voices said, causing both Harry and James to blush lightly.

**Knobbly knees,**

"James"

**Wild black hair**

"Ja-"

"I know he looks like me!" James shouted.

"I think _Harry_ is better looking than you," Susan teased

**And deep green eyes.**

"Lily!"

**He wore round glasses held together by lots of scotch tape because of all the times Dudley and his gang had broken his nose.**

**The only thing he liked about his appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a lightning bolt.**

"You liked it?" Susan asked.

Harry shrugged, "I didn't know what it represented."

**He'd had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

"**In the car crash that your parents died in," she had said.**

"CAR CRASH?" most people roared, causing Remus and Harry to wince.

Nearly everyone was cursing the Dursley's under their breath now

"**And don't ask questions,"**

"But how are you going to learn?" Bill asked.

"I wasn't meant to," Harry replied darkly.

**Don't ask questions – that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys**

"Is that why you never asked questions in class? Even when you don't understand?" Susan asked.

Harry simply nodded, making several people, including his parents, mutter angrily

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

"**Comb your hair," he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

"Not going to work," called the marauders, Lily and Susan.

**About once a week, uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and said Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair just grew that way – all over the place.**

"The curse of the Potter hair," Sirius shouted.

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley came into the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small watery blue eyes and thick brown hair that lay smoothly on his fat head.**

**Aunt Petunia often said Dudley looked like a baby angel – Harry said Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

"Looks like you inherited James insulting ability," said Remus amused.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

"**Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his parents. "That's two less than last year."**

"Merlin, even Regulus wasn't that spoilt!" exclaimed Sirius.

"**Darling, you haven't counted Aunt Marge's present, see, it's under this big one from mummy and daddy."**

"**All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley going red in the face. Harry could spot a Dudley Tantrum starting from half a mile, and moved his plate from the table to the counter in case Dudley overturned it.**

"None of my children would dare behave like that," Said Mrs Weasley.

Bill and Charlie squirmed in their seats.

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger too, because she quickly said "When we're out today, we'll buy you two new presents, alright popkin?"**

**Dudley thought for a moment, it looked like hard work. Finally he slowly said, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…"**

"He can't even count," Charlie said faintly.

"**Thirty-nine, sweetums," said aunt Petunia.**

"**Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled, "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. Atta boy Dudley!" He ruffled his son's hair.**

"He encourages such behaviour!" exclaimed the adults and teachers.

**At that moment the telephone rang and aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control aeroplane, sixteen new computer games and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

"**Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs Figg's broken her leg, she can't take him."**

"He has a name," snarled James, Lily, Sirius and Remus.

**She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart leapt. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to theme parks, hamburger restaurants or to the movies. And every year they would leave Harry with Mrs Figg, an old lady who lived two roads away. Harry didn't really like it there, the house smelled of cabbage and Mrs Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she owned.**

"**Now what?" said aunt Petunia, glaring at Harry as though he had planned this. Harry knew he should feel sorry that Mrs Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr Paws and Tufty.**

"Harry!" Lily scolded.

"**We could phone Marge," Vernon suggested.**

"**Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy," **

"The feeling is mutual," Harry muttered angrily.

"Harry?" Susan asked, "Isn't she the one…"

"Yes," Harry sighed. "Third book," he said to Charlie's curious look.

**The Dursley's often spoke like this, as though he wasn't there – or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

Several growls were heard again.

"**What about your friend, what's her name? – Yvonne?"**

"She's still friends with her?" Lily.

"**On holiday in Majorca," snapped aunt Petunia.**

"**You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on Television for a change or maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

**Aunt Petunia looked like she had swallowed a lemon.**

"But she's always looked like that?" Harry said, confused. Lily nodded in agreement.

"**And come back to find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

"He won't blow up the house," several people cried.

"**I won't blow up the house," Harry said, but they weren't listening.**

"No-one ever listens" Harry muttered quietly.

Everyone who heard him exchanged a look.

"**I suppose we could take him to the zoo," Petunia started slowly, "and leave him in the car…"**

"**That car's new; he's not sitting in it alone…"**

"Oh yes, a machine is more important than your flesh and blood," Arthur yelled, angrily.

Several people edged away from him, Arthur rarely lost his temper but if he did it was best to run away.

**Dudley began to cry loudly. Actually, he wasn't really crying – it had been years since he had really cried – but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"Brat!"

"Git!"

"Pig!"

"Spider!" Harry shouted, pointing next to Fabian.

Fabian shrieked and jumped out of his chair, much to everyone's amusement, breaking the tension as Harry intended.

"**Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

The room burst out laughing.

"**I… don't… want… him… t-t-to… come!" Dudley yelled, between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms**

"Brat!" shouted several people

**Just then, the doorbell rang – "Oh, good lord, they're here!" said aunt Petunia frantically – and a moment later, Piers Polkiss, Dudley's best friend, walked in with his mother.**

**Piers was a scrawny boy with a rat-like face.**

**He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their back while Dudley hit them.**

"That's Horrible!" exclaimed Helen.

**Dudley stopped crying at once.**

"Can't cry in front of your _'friend'_" Bill said sarcastically.

"A true friend won't care," Sirius replied, "a true friend won't hold it against you, they'll see you as Human and they'll be there when you need them." Almost everyone's jaws dropped at this astounding wisdom from him.

"What?" he asked, slightly disturbed by the room's reaction.

"Nothing, Mr Black," Susan said, nervously. "It's just… I don't think anyone expected something like that from you."

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursley's car with Dudley and piers, on the way to the zoo for the first time.**

"That's not right," someone mumbled.

Lily and James whispered to each other, they were going to take Harry to the zoo later.

**His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, uncle Vernon had taken him aside.**

"**I'm warning you now, boy – any funny business, anything at all – and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

More people growled this time, Sirius was cursing in French.

"**I'm not going to do anything," Harry said, "honestly…" But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

Several people shot Harry pitying looks. Susan took Harry's hand in her own.

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar."**

"Not going to work" Lily said, shaking her head. "Nothing works on that crow's nest."

"What did you do?" Harry asked. Both Lily and James blushed and ignored him, while Sirius and Remus smiled.

**Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who had spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before aunt Petunia shaved it off.**

"Yes! The Potter hair is unbeatable," shouted James, his wife smiling fondly.

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this,**

"Petunia! you know he can't help it!" Lily scolded.

**Even though he tried to explain that he **_**couldn't**_** explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

**Another time, aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old jumper of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls) – **

"EWW!" cried Lily, Marlene, Emmaline, Bill and Charlie.

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until it might have fitted a hand puppet. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

"Thank Merlin!" Lily said.

**On the other hand, he'd got into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting against the chimney.**

Everyone turned to stare at Harry, astonished he was capable of such powerful magic at his age.

"Did you apparate" asked Elphias Doge.

"Yes, I felt a brief sensation of being under pressure and when I opened my eyes I was on the chimney," Harry replied.

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from the headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard later) was jump behind the large rubbish bins outside the kitchens. Harry assumed the wind must have caught him mid jump.**

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Piers and Dudley to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, her cupboard or Mrs Figg's living room.**

**While he drove, uncle Vernon complained to aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank and Harry were just a few of his favourite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles."…roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

"**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

"Bad move," Bill said, wincing.

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned round in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a moustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

"His does," Harry said, pointing to a very smug Sirius.

**Dudley and piers sniggered.**

"**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing his relatives hated even more than his asking questions, it was him talking about anything acting in way it wasn't supposed to, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon – they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys had bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling young lady in the van had asked him what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching his head who looked remarkably like Dudley.**

Nearly everyone burst out laughing.

**Harry had the best morning he could remember. He was careful to walk a little apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who had started to become bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favourite hobby of hitting him.**

There were more growls.

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley threw a tantrum because his Knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, uncle Vernon bought him another one and let Harry finish the first.**

**Afterward, Harry felt he should have known it was all too good to last.**

Several people groaned. "Does anything ever go right for you?" Lily asked.

"My luck has a tendency to backfire on a regular basis," Harry replied.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark inside, with lit windows along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the building. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon**

"That's huge!" exclaimed Bill and Charlie.

'**s car and crushed it into a dustbin.**

"Ok, not so huge," they said, disappointed.

**But, at the moment, it didn't look in the mood, in fact, it was asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

"**Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't move,**

"**Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

"**This is boring," Dudley moaned as he shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom – no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard for a bedroom, where the only visitor was aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked.**

Everyone looked curiously at Harry. "Wait for it," he said.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too. The snake jerked its head at uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:**

"**I get that all the time."**

"**I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

"You can talk to snakes?" Charlie asked.

"People who can talk to snakes are called Parselmouthes, the language is called Parseltongue. In Britain there is a stereotype that Parseltongue is the sign of a dark wizard. The ability itself isn't dark, but is perceived as such because several notable dark wizards possessed the ability; such as Tom Riddle and Salazar Slytherin," Harry replied.

"Tom Riddle?" asked Bill.

"Voldemort's (Flinch) Birth name," Harry answered.

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

"**Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a small sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

"**Was it nice there?"**

**The Boa Constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred In the zoo. "Oh, I see – so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made them both jump. "DUDLEY! MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT ITS DOING!"**

**Dudley came waddling towards them as fast as he could.**

"**Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry hard in is still tender ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard onto the concrete floor, sending another wave of pain through his ribs and back**

**What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened – one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of Horror.**

"What did you do?"

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass in front of the Boa Constrictor's tank had vanished.**

Everyone turned to Harry.

"Blimey! That's pretty powerful magic, Harry!" Edgar said.

Harry shrugged and continued.

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and ran for the exits,**

**As the snake slid past, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come… thanksss, amigo."**

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. "But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

**The zoo director himself made aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologised over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time that they were all back in uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling how it had nearly bitten off is leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, Weren't you Harry?"**

"Brat," was heard from several people.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could barely speak. He managed to say, "Go – cupboard – stay – no meals," before he collapsed into a chair and aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large Brandy.**

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard, wishing he had a didn't know what the time was and he couldn't be sure the Dursley's were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

"You needed to sneak food in your own home?" Molly asked angrily.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents died. Sometimes when he strained his memory during the long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.**

"You survived the Avada Kadavera?" Aberforth asked faintly, staring at Harry in disbelief.

"Yes, and if it isn't explained at the end of this book I'll tell you." Harry said.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

"You didn't even know what we looked like?" James asked quietly, as he rubbed Lily's back, who had started crying quietly at her sister's actions.

"No, but I found out at Christmas and Hagrid made an album for me," Harry replied, smiling at the half-giant, who smiled back.

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened.**

**The Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too.**

**A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once wile out sopping with aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed in green had waved at him once on a bus. A bald man in a purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word.**

"I wonder if that was Kingsley?" Harry muttered to Susan, who looked thoughtful.

**The weirdest thing about all these people, was the way they seemed to disappear when Harry tried to get a closer look.**

**At school Harry had no one. Everyone knew Dudley's gang didn't like that odd Harry Potter with his baggy old clothes and his taped up glasses, and no one liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

Everyone started growling at that last sentence.

"Who would like to read next?" Harry asked.  
"I will," said James, taking the book from his Son.  
"Chapter 3 – **The Letters From No One,**" He began.


	4. Chapter 4-The Letters From No One

The Letters From No One

"James Potter voluntarily reading a book that isn't about Quidditch? Hell's got to be freezing over," Harry joked, smirking at his father's face as the room erupted in laughter.

Sirius, Fabian and Gideon were rolling around on the floor, while Remus was doubled over, holding himself up with one hand on the table as he laughed. Lily was also laughing hard at her husband and son's antics.

It was several minutes before everyone calmed down enough for him to start.

"**Letters from No One** James Began.

"How can a letter be from no one?" Charlie asked.

"Muggles normally put the address of the sender on a letter so it can be returned if it isn't delivered, wizards don't do that," Harry replied, Charlie nodded in understanding.

"But why does it say letters," Percy asked, having grown bored with playing with the other kids and decided to join and sat next to Bill.

"You'll see," Harry said mysteriously.

**The escape of the boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was let out of his cupboard, the summer holidays had started.**

"When is Dudley's birthday?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"June 23rd, Mrs Weasley," Harry replied, grimly

Nearly everyone scowled, many were muttering darkly to their neighbours.

"Horrible people," Mrs Weasley admonished, she turned back to Harry with a softer expression. "You can call me Molly dear,"

"And you can call me Arthur, Harry," Mr Weasley added.

"Thank you, Arthur, Molly," Harry said.

**And Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control aeroplane and, first time on his racing bike, knocked down Mrs Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

"Poor Mrs Figg," Susan said sadly.

"That boy needs to be disciplined," Edgar muttered, receiving several affirmative nods.

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was little chance to escape Dudley's gang, who visited the house every day. Piers, Gordon, Malcolm and Dennis were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of them all, he was the leader.**

"How does that work?" asked Bill.

"Ask James, the marauders weren't much different before fifth year," Susan said, grinning at the marauders.

"Oi!" cried the marauders.

"Give over, you pulled more than your share of stupid and dangerous pranks at Hogwarts," Harry retorted.

James and Sirius shut up while Remus hung his head in shame.

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favourite game: Harry hunting.**

"Lay one finger on him…" Sirius snarled, leaving the threat hanging.

**This was why Harry spent as much time out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley.**

James and Sirius yelled, "He's going to Hogwarts!" and started singing the school song in very off key voices.

Several people clapped when they finished and Albus said something about music being a magic beyond that taught at Hogwarts.

**Dudley would be going to Vernon's old private school, Smelting's. Piers Polkiss was also going there. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school.**

"No, he's going to Hogwarts, didn't you hear us?"

"Sirius"

**Dudley thought this was very funny. "They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to go upstairs and practice?"**

"Don't you dare!"

"**No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilets never had anything as disgusting as your head down it – it might be sick." Then he ran before Dudley could work out what he said.**

"Brilliant Harry" James laughed.

"He's got Lily's cheek," Marlene managed to say, "and James's insults by the sound of it, I think he's going to beat the marauders record for most detentions in a term."

James looked at Harry proudly while Lily blushed and hit his arm when Harry gave her a familiar knowing grin.

**One day in July, aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to get his Smelting's uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs Figgs wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats and wasn't as keen on them as before.**

"I told you cats were evil."

"Quiet mutt"

"Hey!"

**She let Harry watch television and gave him a piece of chocolate cake that tasted as though she had had it for several years.**

"Sacrilege!" Remus gasped, as his friends laughed at the chocoholic's expression.

"Chocolate addict," Harry muttered fondly.

"I am not addicted to chocolate!" Remus denied as everyone laughed harder.

"So we won't find _any_ chocolate in your pockets if we searched you?" Susan asked in a sweet voice.

Sirius and the twins collapsed on the floor, roaring in laughter, as Remus looked away from Susan, his silence being all they needed to hear.

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand new uniform.  
Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats,**

"EWW!" the younger women exclaimed.

**Orange knickerbockers,**

Most people looked revolted.

**And flat straw hats called boaters.**

Bill, Charlie and Percy were clutching their eyes, trying to shake the image out of their heads, as most of the Order declared they wouldn't insult the Hogwarts uniforms again.

**They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other when the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

Most of the room shared confused looks, all clearly wanting to know how that worked, or was meant to work. Sirius, however, couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"How does that work?" he asked. "I know we have wands, but the teachers don't encourage us to hex each other in the corridors."

"Yet you would do so regardless of the punishment," Minerva admonished, Sirius had the decency to look ashamed. Harry smiled evilly however, making the people opposite him quite afraid; Susan knew that smile and knew that he had something cunning planned.

"If you didn't hex anyone in your time at school, I'll kiss Riddle," Harry said, making Minerva blush and Albus nod.

"I remember a spectacular duel you instigated in your fifth year with a Slytherin named Walburga," Albus said, drawing the undivided attention of Sirius, Susan and Harry.

"That was you?" they said in unison. Sirius had been told of the duel by his mother when he was younger, Harry and Susan had the misfortune to have met the portrait of the woman and had learned a little about her during one of the few periods when they had a truce with the old woman.

Everyone watched as Sirius suddenly launched into a story of how he'd always held the mysterious Gryffindor as his hero for defeating his mother, their smiles growing as Minerva got steadily pinker as Sirius' monologue continued before going scarlet as, to everyone's amusement, Sirius got up and went and hugged her, thanking her for putting the 'freakish, inbred bat' in her place.

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her ickle dudleykins,**

It took ten minutes for everyone to stop laughing.

**He looked so handsome and grown up.**

"And I thought I was the one who needed glasses," Harry stage-whispered to Susan, making most people laugh.

**Harry didn't trust himself to speak, he thought two of his ribs may have already cracked from trying not to laugh.**

There was no such restraint now, from Harry or anyone else.

**There was a horrid smell coming from the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast.**

"I take Tuney's cooking is still awful?" Lily asked, exasperated.

"Yes," Harry replied, with his girlfriend nodding in agreement.

**It seemed to be coming from a large iron tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rages in grey water.**

Several people raised their eyebrows.

"**What's this?" he asked aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did when he dared to ask a question.**

There was a chorus of growls at the reminder of that rule, Lily was cursing her sister under her breath and muttering angrily about what she would do the next time she saw Petunia.

"**Your new school uniform," she said. **

"For Merlin's sake! The least you can do is buy him a uniform," James snapped, most of the room agreed.

**Harry looked into the bowl again. "Oh," he said "I didn't realise it had to be so wet."**

"Took me ten years to realise sarcasm doesn't work on her," Harry muttered, drawing sniggers from those who heard him and agreeing nods from Lily and Susan.

"**Don't be stupid," she snapped. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old clothes. It'll look just like everyone else's when I'm done."**

"Not likely," someone muttered.

**Harry seriously doubted this but thought it best not to argue.**

Susan gasped dramatically, "A Potter not argue?"

Harry gave her a mock-glare as everyone laughed.

**He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day – like he was wearing bits of elephant skin probably.**

"I already live with two elephants so that would make a matching set," Harry joked.

Most people laughed but a few just grinned.

**Dudley and uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's school uniform, Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

**They heard the soft click of the letterbox and the flop of letters on the doormat.**

"**Get the post, Dudley" said uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

"He made the pig do something?" Elphias asked in amazement.

"**Make Harry get it,"**

"The world is right again," Harry and Susan said sarcastically.

"**Get the post, Harry,"**

"**Make Dudley get it,"**

"**Poke him with your smelting stick, Dudley."**

There were several angry protests at this.

**Harry dodged the smelting stick and went to get the post. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Vernon's sister Marge, a brown envelope that looked like a bill and – a letter for Harry?**

Everyone looked at Harry, wondering why the last bit was phrased like a question.

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, an odd feeling in his chest. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would?**

Nearly everyone sent him pitying looks. Susan blushed as red as her hair, "I did," she said quietly.

Harry hugged her, "Even though I didn't get it, thank you," he said softly.

Susan blushed harder and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

**He had no friends, no family besides the Dursley's – he didn't even belong to the library so he didn't get rude notes asking for books back.**

**Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

_**Mr H Potter**_

_**The cupboard under the stairs**_

_**4 Privet Drive**_

_**Little Whinging, Surrey**_

"How the hell could you miss that?" exclaimed Marlene, alternating between staring at Albus and Minerva, the former looked ashamed and like he wanted to disappear from the furious glares, the latter was ashamed and furious with herself that she could have missed that

"We use a self-addressing quill, we need to monitor it from now on," Minerva said quietly.

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald green ink. There was no stamp.**

**Turning the letter over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms:**

**a lion, **

The marauders, twins, Lily, Alice, Marlene and Hagrid cheered.

**an eagle,**

Frank, Helen, Elpias and Mark cheered

**a badger **

Edgar, Dedalus, Emmaline and Aberforth cheered

**and a snake **

Moody gave a small shout

**surrounding a large letter H.**

"**Hurry up, boy!" shouted uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" he chuckled at his own joke.**

"That's a joke?" Fabian asked.

Harry went scarlet as Susan smirked at him.

"What's up with you two?" Gideon asked.

"Harry tried to make a reverse howler for a friend's birthday, it was meant to say a birthday message and then erupt into a fountain of confetti, it blew up and singed his eyebrows off instead," Susan explained, smiling as her boyfriend tried to glare at her as everyone laughed at her teasing.

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**

"Not there," Remus groaned.

"I was in shock," Harry protested.

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard. "Marge's ill," he informed aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk -,"**

"**Dad!" said Dudley, suddenly. "Harry's got something."**

"Quiet brat" chorused several voices

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by uncle Vernon.**

"Leave off, it's not yours," Bill protested.

"**That's mine!" Harry said, trying to snatch it back.**

"Yeah," Charlie and Percy agreed.

"**Who'd be writing to you?" he sneered,**

Harry gave Susan a little hug as she blushed again and leaned in to kiss him, getting disgusted cries from Bill, Charlie and Percy.

**Shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there, within seconds he had turned the grayish white of old porridge.**

"Never eating porridge again," Sirius said looking very green.

**P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

"Drama king," muttered Emmaline.

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked like she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

"**Vernon! oh my goodness – Vernon!"**

Marlene was about to comment but noticed both Harry and Susan looking very ill and stopped.

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten Harry and Dudley were in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp rap on the head with his smelting stick.**

"If my children behaved like that…" Molly said quietly, while Bill, Charlie and Percy squirmed in their chairs

"I don't want to think about it," Harry said quickly, noticing the glare _his_ mother was giving him.

"**I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

"Flippers off whale, its Harry's" Sirius growled.

"**I want to read it, said Harry, furiously, "as It's mine."**

"Yeah,"

"**Get out, both of you," croaked uncle Vernon.**

"Not happening,"

**Harry didn't move.**

"Uh oh," Sirius and Remus said in unison, both looking at Lily who went as red as her hair.

"**I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

"Looks like he has Lily's temper," Marlene said, grinning as both Lily and Harry blushed while Susan and Alice giggled.

"**Let me see it!" demanded Dudley**

"Not likely."

"**OUT!" roared uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them.**

There was another round of indignant shouts.

**Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole;**

Twins and marauders yelled "Go Harry."

**Dudley won,**

The twins groaned and Sirius and James looked like kicked puppies (Sirius was the more convincing of the two)

**So Harry, glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.**

"Better spot anyway," Harry mumbled, making Susan, Lily and Remus nod in agreement.

"**Vernon," aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address – how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

"**Watching – spying – might be following us," muttered uncle Vernon wildly.**

"Like we'd watch you, if anyone is being watched it'd be Harry," Mark muttered.

"**But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want-…" Harry could see uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen. "No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer… yes, that's best… we won't do anything"  
"But –"**

"Won't work," Remus muttered, blushing.

"He thought his letter was a prank and kept burning them until Albus came and explained measures were being put in place for him to attend despite his furry little problem," James explained, Harry and Susan nodded in understanding.

"**I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in to stamp out this dangerous nonsense?"**

"Harry… did they?" Helen tried to ask, most of the room looked caught between afraid and angry.

"Vernon wanted to but Petunia usually stopped him, usually but not always," he admitted sadly, Lily pulled her son into a hug and wept over her family's cruelty. Nearly everyone else was too angry to speak or even hex Albus for leaving Harry there.

**That evening when he got back from work, uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before, he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

"He fit?" Dedalus squeaked in surprise.

"Only his head, but he wouldn't have made repeat performance the next summer though," Harry replied, earning a few laughs and lightening the mood slightly.

**Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door.**

"**Who's writing to me?"**

"**No one. It was addressed to mistake," said uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."**

"That's a criminal offence," Remus exclaimed.

"**It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily. "It had my cupboard on it."**

"**SILENCE!" yelled uncle Vernon, making a couple of spiders fall from the ceiling.**

Fabian shuddered.

**He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile. **

"I hope that hurt,"

"WILLIAM ARTHUR WEASLEY!"

"**Er – yes, Harry – about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it… we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."**

"Second bedroom?" Sirius asked calmly.

Harry nodded nervously, there were some growls but not many as most were watching Sirius. Nothing good ever came of a calm Sirius Black in an aggravating situation.

"**Why?" said Harry, not trusting his uncle.**

"Never trusted him in the first place," Harry muttered.

"**Don't ask questions" snapped his uncle, "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

**The Dursley's house had four bedrooms:**

Once again nearly everyone was too angry to speak, though sparks were flying from some people's wands.

**One for aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon, one for visitors (usually uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit in his first bedroom.**

**It took Harry only one trip to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room.**

"Your cousin had two rooms to cope with his junk while you only had an armful of possesions?" James snarled.

At Harry's nod, a large target dummy with Vernon's face appeared and both James and Lily destroyed it.

**He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken.**

**The month old cine-camera was lying on top of a small working tank that Dudley had driven over the next door neighbour's dog; In the corner was Dudley's first ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favourite show had been cancelled;**

"Brat."

"CHARLES WEASLEY!"

**There was a large bird cage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for an air rifle; the rifle itself was on a nearby shelf with a bent barrel because Dudley had sat on it.**

"Oh wow, those things are pretty tough," Mark said in astonishment, not quite believing how large Dudley truly was even at 11.

**Other shelves were full of books. They seemed to be the only things that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

Remus and Lily looked scandalised, to their friend's amusement.

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't want him in there… I need that room… make him get out…"**

"He needs to be taught a lesson,"

"PERCIVAL!"

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

Susan shook her head fondly, he did have a habit back then of doing the dumb thing then the smart thing.

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet.**

**Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother and thrown his pet tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back.**

The Weasley children shuddered at the thought of what would happen if they did that.

Harry also shivered slightly under his mother's glare, dreading what the consequences would have been.

**Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened his letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

**When the post arrived, uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr H Potter, the smallest bedroom, 4 Privet Drive – "**

"National class idiot,"

"HARRY!" scolded Lily and Susan, even though their hearts weren't in it.

**With a strangled cry, uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact Harry had grabbed his uncle around the neck from behind.**

"Practising Harry?" Susan asked, to everyone's confusion.

"His neck is thick enough," Harry muttered thoughtfully, before noticing everyone looking at them and added, "it'll explain when we get to Halloween."

**After a minute of confused fighting,**

**In which everyone got hit a lot by the smelting stick, uncle Vernon straightened up, Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

"No" chorused the kids, twins and marauders.

"**Got to your cupboard – I mean bedroom," he wheezed. "Dudley – go – just go,"**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of the cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received the first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? **

**And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

Susan groaned, Harry looked at her annoyed, "What's wrong with my plans?"

"They never work and we _always_ have to wing it," she said, making Sirius and Remus smile.

"Sound familiar Moony?"

"That's exactly what happened with all of James' plans, Padfoot,"

"OI"

Both Lily and Susan giggled at James' pout and Harry's glare.

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and collect the post for number 4 first.**

"That's not bad actually," Susan admitted.

**His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall to the front door – "AAAARRRGH!"**

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy – something alive!**

"Please be the whale, please be the whale, please be the whale…" chanted the marauders, twins, Bill, Charlie and Percy.

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realised the big, squashy thing had been his uncle's face.**

"Yes" the chanters cried.

**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure Harry didn't do exactly what he'd tried to do.**

**He shouted at Harry for about twenty minutes and hit him several times, and then told him to go and make a cup of tea.**

**Harry shuffled miserably onto the kitchen, trying hard to minimise the pain from the movement, and by the time he returned, the post had arrived right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

"**I wan…" he began, but uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.**

"That's just mean," Susan pouted.

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed home and nailed shut the letterbox.**

"Does he really think that'll work?" Aberforth asked.

"**See," he explained to aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "If they can't deliver them they'll just give up."**

"Evidently," Elphias replied.

"**I'm not sure that will work, Vernon."**

"**Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon.**

"Thank Merlin/God for that," James and Harry said in unison, to Sirius, Remus, Lily, Mark, Helen and Susan's amusement.

**As he tried to knock in a nail with a piece of fruitcake that aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

"He works for a tool company, surely he has a hammer?" Arthur asked incredulously.

"There's a reason I cooked," Harry said seriously, earning several chuckles and making Lily and Susan start giggling at the look on his face.

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the letterbox they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs toilet.**

"Petunia was in there at the time,"

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again.**

**After burning the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up all the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed 'Tiptoe through the tulips' as he worked and jumped at small noises.**

"And I thought Moody was jumpy," Edgar muttered.

"Wait until you see post-war Moody," Harry said, Susan nodding too.

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed to aunt Petunia through the living room window.**

**While uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and dairy trying to find someone to complain to, aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.**

"**Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

"You did," Harry said softly as Susan blushed.

**On Sunday morning, uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy. "No post on Sundays," he reminded them, as he spread marmalade on his newspapers.**

"Muggles eat newspapers?" Bill asked.

"No, he was so wound up he wasn't thinking straight." Harry replied, noticing Arthur taking notes from the corner of his eye.

"**No damn letters today…" something came whizzing out of the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets.**

"Bullets?" Emmaline asked.

"A projectile used as ammunition for muggle combustion weapons, similar in principle to an arrow or crossbow bolt but are accelerated to a velocity were the human eye cannot follow it. Depending on the weapon, lethal to over a mile, two miles with some weapons," Harry explained

Tthe people who had spent most of their lives in the wizarding world suddenly became very afraid; spells did not carry further than 300 yards.

**The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one.**

"Why? You could have picked one up from the ground," Charlie asked.

"Instinct," Harry replied smiling.

"**OUT! Out!" Uncle Vernon seized Harry by the waist and threw him into the hall. **

Several people shouted angrily.

**When aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, uncle Vernon slammed the door. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room bouncing of the walls and floor.**

"**That does it!" said uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling out great tufts of his moustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"**

**He looked so dangerous with half his moustache missing that no one dared argue. **

"The purple face and big throbbing vein on his temple didn't help," Harry said

**Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded up front door and were in the car, speeding towards the motorway. **

**Dudley was sniffling next to him on the back seat; his father had hit round the head for trying to pack his television, VCR and computer in his sports bag.**

"Serves him right,"

"WILLIAM ARTHUR WEASLEY"

**They drove. And they drove. Even aunt Petunia didn't ask where they were going. Every now and then uncle Vernon would make a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. "Shake 'em off… Shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

"He's lost it," Fabian said.

"He didn't have it in the first place" Gideon replied.

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling.**

"I resent that" Sirius, Remus, Harry and Susan said indignantly, making everyone stare as they all shared an odd look.

**He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry; he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

"Brat"

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored,**

**But Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of the passing cars and wondering…**

"I don't remember so don't ask," Harry said as several people opened their mouths to ask.

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes for breakfast the next day.**

**They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table. "Scuse me, but is one of you Mr H Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk." She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

**Mr H Potter**

**Room 17**

**Railview Hotel**

**Cokeworth**

"Wow Minnie's persistent," Sirius said, successfully ignoring Minerva's glare.

**Harry made a grab for the letter but uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**

"Don't just stare."

"**I'll take them," uncle Vernon said, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

"**Wouldn't it be better to just go home, dear?" aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her.**

"Listen to her, she knows more about our world," Lily moaned.

**Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car and they went off again. The same thing happened in the middle of a ploughed field, halfway across a suspension bridge and at the top of a multi-storey car park.**

"**Daddy's gone mad hasn't he?" Dudley asked his mother dully later that afternoon. **

"Even the kid knows it," someone said.

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car and disappeared.**

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley snivelled.**

"**It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television."**

"Brat"

**Monday! This jogged Harry's memory, if today was Monday, (and you could usually trust Dudley to know the days of the week by the Program schedule for television) then tomorrow, Tuesday was his birthday.**

Lily and James smiled at Harry.

**Of course, his birthday was never exactly fun – last year he'd been given a coat hanger and an old pair of Vernon's socks',**

"Slimy Git!"

"Charles!"

**Uncle Vernon came back and he was smiling. **

**He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer when aunt Petunia asked what he'd bought. **

"Why don't I like the sound of that?"

"**Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing to what looked like a large rock, about half a mile out to sea. Perched on top of it, was the most miserable shack one could imagine. One thing was for certain, there was no television there.**

"He's got to be joking,"

"**Storm forecast for tonight!" said uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together.  
"And this gentleman has kindly agreed to lend us his boat!" A toothless old man came ambling up to them and pointed, with a rather wicked grin, to an old rowboat in the iron-grey water below them.  
"I've already got us some rations," said uncle Vernon, "So all aboard!"**

Everyone was now very nervous, seeming to forget Harry was in the room with them.

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks as a chill wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the derelict house.**

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of crisps each and four bananas.**

"That wouldn't feed a church mouse!" Sirius cried, to his friends amusement.

**He tried to start a fire but the empty crisp bags just smoked and shrivelled up**

"**Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

"Git"

"Harry"

**He was in a very good mood; he obviously believed nobody stood a chance of making it through the storm to deliver post. Harry privately agreed, but the thought didn't cheer him up.**

"You can't beat us that easy, but even we have limits," Edgar said quietly.

**As night fell, the promised storm rolled in. spray from the high waves splattered against the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few old blankets in the second room and made a bed for Dudley on the moth eaten sofa. She and uncle Vernon took the bed in the second room,**

**And Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

Lily shrieked and began muttering angrily about all the things she was going to do to her sister as James conjured a blanket and wrapped it around Harry.

**The storm ragged more ferociously as the night wore on. Harry couldn't sleep, he shivered and gently turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger.**

Sirius' bottomless stomach rumbled in sympathy, provoking another wave of laughter.

**Near midnight, Dudley's snores began to be drowned out by thunder that echoed over the harbour. The luminous dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told him he'd be eleven in ten minutes time.**

**He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember it,**

"Doubt it"

**Wondering where the letter writer was now.**

"Her office wondering why there had been no reply," Harry muttered pointing to Minerva.

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wouldn't collapse, but he might be warmer if it did.**

Susan slapped him, "Don't think like that again."

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they get back they wouldn't notice him hide one.**

"Maybe," someone muttered.

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that?**

**Two minutes to go. What was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

Everyone started to be afraid again.

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven, **

**Thirty seconds… twenty… ten… nine – maybe he'd wake up Dudley, just to annoy him.**

"Do it, do it, do it…" chanted the marauders, twins and kids.

**Three… two… one… **

**BOOM.**

"James!" Remus shouted as he, Harry and Susan clutched their ears.

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"Who was it?" asked the twins.

"You'll see," Harry said.

"Who wants to read next?" James said, holding up the book.

"I will, dear," Lily said, taking the book from her husband.

"**The Keeper of Keys,"** Lily began.


	5. Chapter 5- The Keeper of Keys

The Keeper of Keys

**The Keeper of the Keys,** Lily began.

Everyone turned to the blushing half-giant at the end of the table.

**BOOM.**

"Lily" Sirius moaned, "You're meant to shout."

Lily smiled as Remus and, to her surprise, Harry gave her an appreciative smile.

**They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake.**

**"Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

"What's a cannon?" Arthur asked, although not as eagerly as usual, everyone looked to see an odd look on his face.

"A muggle combustion weapon, the basic technology involved has been used in one form or another for 400 years, modern equivalents are lethal to over ten miles," Susan explained, surprising her parents.

The magically raised people in the room suddenly became very afraid.

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.**

The book fell from Lily's hands as Helen, Emmaline and Minerva gasped, Remus and Sirius swore loudly and fluently in French (Harry and Susan put silencing charms on the children again).

"He bought a _GUN_ and kept it in a room with two _CHILDREN!_" Lily asked, not screaming as expected but the distress was etched into her face and her voice, James and the other parents wore similar expressions, catching on that this _rifle_ was a dangerous weapon.

"He's that dumb, yes" Harry confirmed grimly, Susan holding his hand very tightly now, terrified that her Harry had been placed in such danger at such a young age _and_ that this was only a shadow of what is to come. "Hagrid is quick to get rid of it," he added giving the half-giant a grateful smile.

**"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you — I'm armed!"**

"We've got arms," Bill said confused.

"It means he has a weapon," his father explained.

**There was a pause. Then —**

**SMASH!**

"Lily," Sirius groaned.

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.**

**A giant of a man** **was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

"You make him sound scary," Charlie said, looking at the man in question.

"It was midnight during a thunder storm, in daylight I would have been more flattering," Harry replied.

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

**"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…"**

"Only Hagrid," Sirius said, shaking his head fondly. Hagrid shrugged as everyone laughed.

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

**"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

**"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

"Yo," Harry said loudly, looking up and down the table for whoever said his name before blushing as he realised it was the book. Susan giggled lightly, he'd spent the last few minutes looking at her with that dreamy expression all lovestruck men have.

Sirius and Remus however got up and walked over to him; Remus taking a hold of Harry's wrist and looking at his watch as he took his pulse, Sirius conjured a thermometer and stuck it under Harry's tongue and shone a small torch into Harry's eyes.

"How long has it been since you found your attention been wandering from a task to Miss Bones?" Remus asked, to general amusement.

Harry looked up to him and was about to answer when Sirius pulled the thermometer from his moved, looked at it and tutted loudly.

"Oh dear, have you been feeling hot under the collar when Miss Bones enters the room?" Sirius asked a gravely professional look on his face.

"Yeah every time I see her, since second year for your question Remus," he answered looking from the animagus to the werewolf as he did, missing Susan blushing from embarrassment but also looking pleased.

The room watched as Remus whispered something in Sirius' ear that made the man clutch his heart.

"No, not another promising young man struck down in his prime," he begged dramatically.

"I'm afraid so, another unfortunate teenage male lost to the world, never to savour the wonders of bachelorhood," Remus replied in mock sadness.

"He is in love," he finished dramatically, to everyone but Harry's amusement.

Harry opened his mouth but was cut off as Sirius howled as if someone had died.

"My godson… while never… know the joys… of being… a bachelor," he sobbed loudly, stopping when he realised no one was laughing.

He looked to Harry to find himself staring down Harry's wand to a very familiar look, it was James' 'you're for it now' look.

He barely opened his mouth to plead for his life when a violet flash lit up the whole room, leaving a puppy padfoot on the table.

Everyone burst out laughing as the puppy tried to stand up but suddenly found itself, along with the girls on Harry's side of the table, floating through the air. The people were rearranged so Marlene, Helen and Susan could sit next to each other and puppy padfoot sat suspended in front of them. Everyone watched as ribbons and other things including puppy sized/shaped dresses appeared in front of the girls who shared an evil smile before giving puppy padfoot the same look a fox gives a rabbit as it gets ready to pounce.

Padfoot's eyes widened and he looked to Harry in terror, he put his paws together, begging Harry not to do this but Harry grinned evilly and dropped the puppy in front of Marlene who quickly captured him.

Everyone laughed as the girls quickly started playing with the puppy and Harry wheeled around on Remus, who was on his knees praying by this point. "Do I need to teach you not to mock my feelings for Susan too?"

Remus shook his head quickly, his eyes wide in fear. The man visibly relaxed as Harry put his wand away and gestured for him to sit back down.

Lily shook her head at her son while James smiled proudly, Harry was definitely creative when he wanted revenge.

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

**"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes." Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.**

**"I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

"Like you could order Hagrid around"

**"Ah, dry up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant;**

**he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and** **threw it into a corner of the room.**

"Thank you Hagrid," Lily sighed.

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

There was a small round of chuckling and giggling.

**"Anyway — Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here — I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."**

"I don't know, no offence Hagrid but you're not the best cook," Fabian said, Hagrid just shrugged in acceptance

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.**

"What little I had was delicious," Harry said, making Hagrid and everyone else smile then frown.

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

"Harry," Lily, Susan, Helen and Molly scolded.

"Just be glad he didn't ask 'what are you'" Remus said.

**The giant chuckled.**

**"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."**

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

Nearly every guy in the room rubbed their shoulders subconsciously.

**"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

"Hagrid"

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shrivelled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

"Best feeling in the world," Harry said, closing his eyes as though remembering, while Susan blushed for some reason.

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea.**

"Hagrid!" Lily and Molly scolded, making the man present shrink away.

"It was butterbeer," Harry defended, "Fred and George brought me some from Hogsmeade in second year, I remembered the smell instantly."

The two mothers backed off before Lily caught on to something, "Fred and George?"

"Twin Weasleys, think those two in nappies," Harry said pointing to the Prewett twins, surprising the room especially Molly who looked to the two boys in the playpen, who were looking up as if knowing they'd been mentioned.

**Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

"The pig doesn't need to be fattened any further," Mark grunted.

**The giant chuckled darkly.**

**"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry." **

Mark and Hagrid blushed as everyone else laughed.

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had** **never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.**

**"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts — yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course.**

"ER – no," Bill said.

**"Er — no," said Harry.**

"You think like Harry," Charlie cried as Bill blushed and everyone laughed.

**Hagrid looked shocked.**

**"Sorry," Harry said quickly.**

"Why are you apologising?" Susan asked, cutting off her mother and Lily.

"An old habit, they drilled it into my head that I was _always_ at fault _'just like my parents'_, it took a few years to break," Harry replied, making many adults scowl.

**"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"**

"All what?" Bill asked.

**"All what?" asked Harry.**

"Stop it," Charlie shouted.

**"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered.**

**"Now wait jus' one second!"**

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

**"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy — this boy! — knows nothin' abou' — about ANYTHING?"**

"You'll make him feel like an idiot," James groaned.

"Well he is _your_ son," Susan teased, laughing as Harry gave her a look that said 'really?' and James pouted as Lily and Remus laughed with everyone else.

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad.**

**"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do maths and stuff."**

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."**

**"What world?"**

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

"Oh Cr…"

"REMUS! Not in front of the children"

**"DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry. "But yeh must know about yer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."**

**"What? My — my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

"Didn't you hear the first part?" Gideon asked.

"I wanted to know as much about my parents as possible as the Dursleys refused to say anything," Harry growled, his glare making Gideon hide behind his twin.

**"Yeh don' know… yeh don' know…" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**

**"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.**

"No"

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

"Just give up,"

**"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

"As if Hagrid would listen to _You!_" Charlie shouted

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

Every adult, including both Dumbledores, shivered at the thought of an angry Hagrid.

**"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"**

James, Lily and Remus looked murderous at Harry's treatment.

**"Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly.**

**"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

"Drama queen," Lily muttered at the same time as Harry and Susan.

**"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid.**

**"Harry — yer a wizard."**

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**

**"I'm a what?" gasped Harry.**

"Great reaction Harry," James said as the room laughed.

"I was the same," Lily told him.

**"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good 'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

"At last" the twins cried dramatically.

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter**

**The Floor**

**Hut-on-the-Rock**

**The Sea.**

**He pulled out the letter and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**

**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Minerva McGonagall,**

**Deputy Headmistress**

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**

Harry shrugged sheepishly as everyone laughed.

**"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl — a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl**

"That poor owl," Alice, Lily and Charlie said.

— **a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down:**

_**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**_

_**Given Harry his letter.**_

_**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.**_

_**Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.**_

_**Hagrid**_

"Your son is amazing Prongs, none of us can read Hagrid's handwriting right side up," Sirius cried, having finally escaped from is modified animagus form and the now pouting girls he was removing each of the many pink ribbons in his hair.

Susan shot Harry a puppy eyed look that said 'change him back' but Harry shook his head with a look that said 'he's suffered enough for now'.

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.**

"It is for us," Elphias said.

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

**"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

**"He's not going," he said.**

"I'd like to see a great muggle like you stop him," Hagrid grunted.

**Hagrid grunted.**

**"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

"Don't change much do you, Hagrid,"

**"A what?" said Harry, interested.**

**"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."**

"Literally and figuratively," Harry agreed.

**"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"**

**"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a — a wizard?"**

"Of course they knew," Lily said bitterly.

"How could your sister do this?" James asked.

**"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was?**

"Lily is a fine woman, you're the one who has problems," James shouted earning a grateful smile from his wife.

**Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that — that school — and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats.**

**I was the only one who saw her for what she was — a freak!**

"My Mother Is Not A Freak" Harry growled, life-long resentment and hatred resurfacing as he relived that terrible moment in his mind, Susan hugged him and kissed his cheek to try to comfort him.

**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

"Any family would be proud of Lily, even mine would be glad to call her a daughter had she been my sister," Sirius declared, surprising everyone except Harry and Susan who knew the Blacks had always ultimately held ability more important than blood, Walburga's painting had become more civil and accepting of Hermione after a thorough test of her abilities before fifth year.

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.**

"She had," Susan said crossly.

Lily's voice trembled as she continued.

**"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as — as —abnormal — and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

"That's how you found out," James said furiously as he went to comfort his crying wife.

"Yes," was all Harry could say as he joined his father comforting his mother.

The rest of the room were beyond voicing their feelings, even the twins could tell these people were bad.

After several minutes Lily was able to carry on.

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

**"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! **

"Yeah," Bill, Charlie and Percy yelled.

**Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"**

"Really? That's Prongs dream," Sirius stated, ignoring his friend's glare.

"Yeah," Harry said quietly, Susan holding his hand.

"You _do_ know he hates his fame right? What that fame represents?" Susan asked angrily, not happy at how Sirius was ignoring Harry's loss like everyone else.

Sirius blushed and ducked his head in shame at her response.

**"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked** **suddenly anxious.**

"He didn't expect that task to fall to him, I wonder if any of us would have been different," Dedalus said quietly.

**"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh — but someone's gotta — yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."**

"Imagine if you hadn't known," Susan said, smiling slightly as Harry's head shot up, his eyes wide in horror.

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.**

Everyone reading did the same to the book.

**"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh — mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it…"**

"That's true to an extent," Susan agreed quietly.

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with — with a person called — but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows —"**

**"Who?"**

"That's part of it," someone said.

**"Well — I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**

**"Why not?"**

**"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went… bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. **

"That doesn't come close," someone said to general assent.

**His name was…"Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

**"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

"Can't spell it," Hagrid said simply.

**"Nah — can't spell it.**

"Don't say a word," Lily warned Sirius.

**All right —Voldemort. "**

**Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this — this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too — some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches… terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him — an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.**

Everyone nodded in agreement, that was pretty much what life was like these days.

**"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before…**

"He tried but we refused," James stated to Harry and Susan's surprise.

**Probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.**

**"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em… maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' — an' —"**

Lily started tearing up again and could only continue with James holding her hand.

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

**"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad — knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find — anywa…**

"I never knew you cared for us so much Hagrid," James said to the man present. Hagrid wasn't in a state to answer so nodded yes.

**"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then — an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing — he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it.** **Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh — took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even — but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry.**

**No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age — **

Lily's eyes widened and her voice shook as she read the names of her friends who were going to die.

**the McKinnons,**

"No!" Sirius shouted as Marlene cried "Oh Merlin," Sirius got up and went to comfort the woman he'd loved for years.

**the Bones,**

"No," Mark and Edgar cried as Helen and Susan bursting into tears. Mark hugged his wife while Harry hugged his girlfriend, who wept into his shoulder

**the Prewetts**

"No!" Molly screamed as her brothers exchanged a grim but determined look, "If we're going out, we're taking as many of his men with us as we can," they said together.

"It took twenty Death Eaters to take you two down, this time you'll be standing at the end not them," Harry said to them.

**- an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

"How though?" someone asked.

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before — and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh.**

"Oh Merlin," James exclaimed as he and Lily stared at Harry in horror, no one should have to remember that.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

**"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot…."**

"I'm sorry, Harry," Hagrid said sadly.

"It's ok Hagrid, you couldn't have known," Harry replied.

**"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. **

"So did I," someone said.

**Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

**"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured**

"Touch him and I'll kill you," Sirius snarled.

— **and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdoes, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion**

"Bastard," Susan swore, quickly putting a silencing charm on the children first.

— **asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types — just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end -"**

Several large target dummies appeared and were quickly destroyed, they were replaced and destroyed again. This continued for several minutes until everyone was able to continue.

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat.**

"Huh," the kids asked while the adults and teens smirked.

**Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley — I'm warning you — one more word…"**

"Do it, do it, do it…" the kids, twins and marauders chanted.

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

**"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

**"But what happened to Vol-, sorry — I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

**"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see… he was gettin' more an' more powerful — why'd he go?**

**"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die.**

"You said it," Harry said quietly but not quietly enough as his parents looked curiously at him but he didn't elaborate.

**Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.**

"Imperius curse," someone muttered.

**"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on — I dunno what it was, no one does — but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake.**

"What?" Sirius and the kids cried.

**A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

"Well, I suppose if you put it that way," Sirius and the kids muttered unhappily.

**"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."**

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.**

**"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"**

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it… every odd thing that had ever made his** **aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry… chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach… dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back… and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

**"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard — you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

"He was right there too," Harry muttered again, getting curious looks from everyone who eard but Susan who smiled understandingly.

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

"Just let it go already," Emmaline said in exasperation.

**"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it.** **I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish — spell books and wands and —"**

**"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born.**

**He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the** **greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled—"**

**"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

"Oh no," Remus said worriedly, "Never insult Dumbledore in front of Hagrid."

The half-giant in question looked ready to tear down a castle tower.

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and aimed it at Vernon's chest, "NEVER —" he thundered, "— INSULT — ALBUS — DUMBLEDORE — IN — FRONT — OF — ME!" He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley, who had been snaking on Harry's birthday cake for the past ten minutes**

There was an indignant outburst but it died immediately when everyone saw Lily's grin.

— **there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain.**

Everyone leaned forward in anticipation.

**When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

"Brilliant!" Sirius, James, the twins and the kids yelled as everyone else congratulated or thanked Hagrid.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.**

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

**"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

"That was pretty true at that time," Harry admitted to everyone's amusement

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

**"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm — er — not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff — one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job."**

**"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

**"Oh, well — I was at Hogwarts meself but I — er — got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."**

**"Why were you expelled?"**

"He'll never say," Mark said but his jaw dropped at Harry and Susan's smirks.

"How did you find out?" Sirius asked.

"The hard way in second year, you''l find out when we read the second book," Harry explained.

**"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

"Thank you, Hagrid," Lily said.

"Warmer than any blanket I'd used before, that coat," Harry stated.

**"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' doormice in one o' the pockets."**

"That's it," Lily said, marking the page and closing the book.

"Can I read next?" Marlene asked.

Lily gave the book to Marlene and she opened it to the right page.

"**Diagon Alley"** Marlene began.


End file.
